Government Comes Out With Fresh Guidelines On Waste Batteries

 

 

New Delhi : The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has come out with a fresh set of guidelines for collection, handling, storage and transportation of waste batteries across the country. The guidelines have been issued under the Battery Waste Management (BWM) rules of 2022 keeping in view the hazardous nature of waste batteries. The regulations will apply to recyclers, collection centres, refurbishers, producers and entities involved in transportation of waste batteries.

 

The guidelines mandate that every producer, collection centre, recycler and refurbisher may store waste batteries only up to 90 days. These regulations will apply to companies or facilities engaged in the recycling of waste batteries, including establishments designated as collection centres for used batteries that collect and aggregate waste batteries from consumers, businesses and producers before transporting them to recyclers for processing.

Companies or entities involved in the refurbishment or reconditioning of used batteries also fall under the scope of these guidelines. The refurbishers may restore used batteries to a functional state for reuse or resale following appropriate safety and environmental protocols.

 

Producers have been defined as entities that engage in the manufacture and sale of batteries, including refurbished batteries, under their own brand or produced by other manufacturers or suppliers, while entities involved in transportation refers to a diverse range of organisations, service providers and logistics entities engaged in the transportation of waste batteries across different units, or interstate transfers within the country.

It is now mandatory for collection centres to obtain Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO) authorisation from respective State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) and Pollution Control Committees (PCCs).

The site plan of the collection facility needs to be submitted to the SPCB or PCC to assess and approve the facility's storage capacity. Only recyclers, refurbishers or producers shall be allowed to set up collection centres to prevent mishandling and illegal operations.

The guidelines call for collection centres to have equipment for weighing each delivery received and maintain a record of the same. They are also required to maintain records of the kind of waste batteries collected, like lead acid, lithium-ion, zinc based, etc.